Forgotten
by The Ryuu Victoire Tea Party
Summary: She was back in school after three years of sickness and, according to her friends, Kagome definitely changed for the worst. But then a weird, red-robed silver haired man showed up at the shrine, and Kagome has the chance to rediscover what she forgot.
1. Chapter 1

**This was hanging on my hard drive and I thought, hey, why not post it? It's meant as a first chapter, but I doubt I will ever continue it...actually, I can't say that. Maybe I'll get in the mood and I will. Eh. Happy reading.**

**Standard Disclaimer on my profile.  
**

* * *

The air hung heavily, summer could still easily be felt through the warm winds that carried through September. The school year had started about a week ago, and yet still it felt like the middle of summer. Kagome sighed, looking over the grounds with a sleepy eye. She had a couple of assignments due tomorrow, and she knew she was not looking forward to starting. As a result, she floundered slightly on her way inside, taking as much time taking in the light air and sights of the Higurashi shrine; her home.

She smiled slightly, yet the smile was heavy.

Why did she feel so…_nostalgic_?

Her heart jumped when she heard a cry behind her. A rather high-pitched voice was yelling out her name, and it sounded quite tired.

"Higurashi-chan! Higurashi-chan!"

She turned around, her raven hair blowing slightly in the mild wind, and she focused her pale blue eyes on the skinny boy running after her.

He had climbed up the hundred-or-so steps to give her…a small piece of paper.

He was panting, and smiled difficultly when he reached her.

"Hojo…what is this?" she asked, slight annoyance in her voice, not even remotely well-hidden. She was not overjoyed at seeing her class mate here, no matter how nice (she preferred the word _spineless_) he was. However, he seemed to be the undisputable male idol at her school, so according to her friends, deserved some molecule of respect.

"You dropped this… when you got off the bus…I ran…all the way here…to give it to you…" the boy replied with a smile, still gasping for breath.

"You…" Kagome looked at the boy with masked pity. "That's very kind of you Hojo." _Why is he so persuaded that if he acts like a lost puppy I'll start acting interested?_

Kagome realized she wasn't being very nice, despite that she didn't even try to put on her sweet, sugary smile and make him feel like all that work was worth it.

"I'm sorry Hojo, I appreciate this, but I need to go inside and start my homework…" she hesitated, feeling rather uncomfortable. Hojo nodded, a weak look on his face as he realized she wasn't going to do anything more for him.

"I'm sorry to impose, Higurashi." He said stoically, and bowed. Kagome smiled, relief painted over her face. He walked away, feeling rather stupid and angry, and Kagome let out a deep sigh.

_That_ had been awkward beyond belief.

She walked towards the main building where her family lived, and opened the front door. Taking off her shoes and putting on the fuzzy, soft pink slippers that always stood faithfully at the entrance, awaiting her return, she walked into the kitchen. "Hello?" she called out.

"Oh," her mother appeared, "Hello dear." She smiled.

"Hey." Kagome answered, "How's your day been?"

Her mother smiled, looking happy, "Oh, it's been a regular day." She said. Kagome went to the fridge and took out some apple juice. "But your doctor called."

Kagome looked up. "Anything wrong?"

"No, dear. They just called to say that your last check-up tests went just fine, and that though the laboratory test are still inconclusive on what exactly you had for three years, its probably never coming back." She said cheerfully. "I bought some pie to celebrate!" she smiled.

Kagome nodded. "That's nice. Thank you, Mama."

Her mother and her exchanged some more pleasantries, but they were rather empty. Once Kagome finished her apple juice, she grabbed her backpack from the table where she had left it and went to her room upstairs. Her mother left to pick up Souta from school.

Kagome sighed when she entered her room. _Why does this room have so much pink?_ Despite that it was her favorite color, Kagome was starting to find it rather irritating. _What is it with me today?_ First, she had been downright cruel with Hojo, who had run quite a way to give her back a scrap of paper… What was that paper anyways? She reached in her light summer sweater's pocket and pulled in out, unfolding it. It was simply a sheet with a few notes from her Literature class she'd had that day. She'd taken out the book to read on the bus, and that's when it had probably fallen out.

She spaced out, her mind traveling to that day, to her friends, to her frustration. She couldn't understand how restless she was. Ever since school started, something inside her seemed…

She couldn't describe it, or put it into words. But something was missing, and in the stagnant, lingering heat she could barely stand waiting for something more interesting to interrupt her routine.

She founds her friends boring; shallow even. She couldn't stand her classes, and even less her teachers. Most of them looked at her very condescendingly, the others had eyes full of pity. When she'd returned to school full-time after her recovery last January, she'd had to face that a lot. Half the teachers couldn't believe her sickness, and the other half spoke to her with such fragileness that she wanted to scream at them. She wasn't some doll! She could barely remember most of the pain from her sickness, and she didn't want to linger on something that had eaten up about three years of her life. The better part of her high school years were gone, and now that she was graduating this year, she just wanted to forget about it.

Yet the sickness had imprinted quite a bit on her personality, apparently. Her friends Yuka and Eri and Ayumi all knew a Kagome before the sinkness that she had actually been very sweet and quiet. Now she was openly sarcastic and rather cynical. Not quite an optimist, but not really a pessimist either. She had a very, very pronounced sense of justice and wasn't afraid to speak her thoughts. Just yesterday, she'd gotten into a very heated debate with her history teacher about some war lord from the 14th century and the way he had treated his people.

Most of her friends couldn't understand her anymore, either. Kagome never really lingered on this, preferring not to alienate them: they were her friends. Still…they would never understand some facets about her personality. Such as this one: she wasn't completely head-over-heals in love with Hojo.

She bit her lip. Yes, Hojo was a nice guy, if nice was also a synonym for spineless cheesecake. She just wasn't interested, and she wanted her friends to realize this, and to stop pestering her about it.

It wasn't even Hojo that bothered her, mostly. It was the prospect of a relationship that put Kagome…in a rather bad mood.

"You need to calm down, girl." She told herself as she flopped down on her bed. She grimaced as her skirt fell in a rather revealing way. What if Grandpa barged in? Stupid uniform: she couldn't stand wearing the short skirt she'd outgrown a while ago. But rather than asking her mother to waste money on buying a new one, she just clenched her teeth and tried to ignore how _slutty_ the skirt made her feel.

She got up and went to her closet abruptly, changing into a pair of jeans.

_There. Take that, you stupid skirt. _

Rolling her eyes at her own childishness, she went to her desk and took out her textbooks, and got ready for a few hours of tiring homework.

* * *

It was eleven at night when she heard the unfamiliar rustle outside her open window. A light sleeper, she got up and crept to her window, her eyes adjusted to the darkness. Without a noise, she looked outside. It might be Buyo, the silly cat loved to lock himself outside during the warm weather, and when the tabby remembered the food was inside and he would then mew all night until someone let him in.

She caught sight of something running somewhere behind the shed where they kept the temple supplies and some of the stock for the souvenir shop. Biting her lip, she wondered if this was worth waking up Mama.

It then occurred to Kagome that she was being overly paranoid. She kept watch for about another fifteen minutes, and when she didn't see anything, resolved to go back to sleep.

The calm was short-lived. Another noise, louder this time, pierced through her open window and she sat up abruptly.

Grabbing a flashlight she kept in her desk's drawers, she crept down the old wooden stairs as quietly as possible and opened the back door, going outside, well aware that she was in her pajamas and was probably no real threat to whatever had made that noise.

_Hopefully its just Buyo._

And her cat did appear out of the shadows. Buyo mewed and the disappeared again. Groaning, yet also relieved, Kagome lit up the flashlight and lit up the shadows made by the old well-house.

"Where are you, kitty?" she said in a soothing voice, her apprehension totally gone.

She discovered a small hole in the wood paneling behind the shed and sighed. He'd gone inside the well house. Rolling her eyes and muttering, she went back around and towards the house for the keys. She quickly returned, and unlocking the rusty old lock, pushed the door open and went inside.

"Buyo?" she called out again, biting her lip as she faced total darkness.

She lit the flashlight again, and let it slip over the small interior of the shed. When the light flashed over the boarded well in the center, she let out a strangled noise.

Dressed entirely in red, with silvery white hair, stood a man, and he was scratching Buyo's ears.

"Who…who are you?" she asked loudly, her eyes wide with confused fear.

The man got up from his sitting position, and there she realized how young his face was. And how his eyes shined oddly in the dim light of the small flashlight she held in her hands.

"You don't remember me, Kagome?"

"How do you know my name?" she retorted, but it was answer enough. She studied him carefully, backing towards the door. "How'd you get in here?" she then looked at the old, sacred well behind him…instead of being boarded up, like her grandfather had done that summer, it was open, the pieces of wood had been ripped away…

"You…you don't remember? What happened…these past three years?" he asked again, his voice barely above a gruff whisper, he sounded generally shocked, hurt even.

"Who are you?" Kagome asked again, "Answer, or I'll call the police!"

The threat had no effect on him.

"We need to talk." He said simply, walking towards her.

"Who are you?" Kagome screeched as she ran out of the well house, panicked. She dropped the flashlight and ran towards the house. _I have to reach mama, or a phone. This guy is completely mad!!!_

But before she got very far, a strong grip pulled her abruptly back. She whirled around to see he'd appeared behind her, and her wrist was currently locked in his fist. "Let go!" Kagome demanded, panicked.

"Just listen. I won't hurt you."

Kagome ignored him as she looked at the hand closely, trying to get out of his vice-grip. Where those…claws? Or just really long, sharp-looking nails?… Her eyes widened in fear as she looked at his face. He had glowing, golden eyes that were staring at her intently, a look she couldn't place. But it scared her.

Sensing that she was going to scream, the man put his other hand over her mouth gently. "Please don't." he said. "I just need your help."

_Who are you?_ Her eyes asked as she nodded and his hand left her face, and he let go of her arm, which she hastily clutched to her chest, afraid he'd change his mind and try to grab her again.

"We need to talk," he repeated.

"What do you want?" She hissed in response.

"You don't remember me at all?" This time, his voice held something different, less threatening, less business-like. He sounded…like he was sad. But he was hard to read. His face did not change, and all she could see was his tense apprehension. He didn't want her to scream, she concluded.

"You'd think," she sneered, "that I'd remember someone who dressed up as a kabuki actor in the middle of the night to wake innocent sleeping girls and kidnap their cats."

He just stared at her.

"Never mind." She rolled her eyes, slightly annoyed.

"I get it." The man growled, crossing his arms, "I'm not stupid, Kagome. And you're definitely not innocent. And I'm definitely not here for Buyo."

"How do you know my cat's name?"

"What are you playing at? Are you angry at me or something? Still?" the man said, exasperated.

"I'm angry at you because I still don't know who you are, and I found you in my locked well house petting my cat in the middle of the night! State your business, Kabuki-fangirl! Or leave before I call the police!"

"My name is InuYasha, idiot. And I'm not a Kabuki-fangirl."

They both stayed silent.

"That's it? 'InuYasha'?" Kagome questioned, confused.

The man nodded.

"Ooookay…" Kagome muttered sarcastically.

The pause continued for a while as InuYasha's eyes traveled all over the girl, taking her in. She hadn't grown in size, but her eyes seemed wary, though that may just have been from lack of sleep. His gaze unnerved Kagome. "Are…"

"What?"

"Why are you here, 'InuYasha'?" the name rolled off her tongue. It wasn't a difficult name, but…it seemed odd to her. Like it rang a bell she couldn't hear very well.

He snapped into focus. "Now, we're talking. I need your help. The Shikon-no-tama was destroyed but we think a piece may exist still, and the carrier brought it-"

Kagome's face grew more and more weary. "Listen, you go inside, and I'll make you some tea or something, and we'll talk about this properly, okay, 'InuYasha'?"

InuYasha looked at her, his eyes questioning.

"Do you have any ramen?"

"Ramen?"

He shifted from foot to foot. "I haven't had any since you left and-"

"Wait a second, since I left?"

He blinked. "Right, apparently, you don't 'remember' anything." He growled. "Fuck."

She stared at him. "Ramen, right? Might have some. Wanna come in the house and I'll check?"

He nodded, and she gulped silently. He had breathtaking eyes. Despite his general weirdness, his eyes were actually quite beautiful.

She bit her lip and turned around, stopping only to pick up Buyo who had come out to be brought back in, and went inside the house. InuYasha, or whoever he was, followed noiselessly. She gulped silently.

She went to the kitchen and flicked the lights on.

"I'll be right back, I need to check the basement if we have any left…"

He nodded, his arms crossed as he stood in the middle of her mother's kitchen, looking incredibly out of place with his silver hair, long nails, red traditional clothing and…were those _dog ears?_

Her eyes widened and she stared, mouth-dangling open as she watched them twitch. He frowned at her, and his stern gaze brought her back to reality.

"I'm…downstairs…be right back."

Trying not to trip over her own feet, she went down the hall, making sure he wasn't watching her (having decided to examine the toaster instead) and picked up the cordless phone. She then opened a small door by the stairs, and went downstairs, locking the door behind her, wincing as she heard the lock click far too loudly than she would have liked.

She hastily went down the stairs and turned the lights on, and saw the quiet washing machines, and some shelves where they held a few reserves.

Sitting on the floor behind the clothes dryer, she dialed the emergency number.

"Operator? Operator? Thank you god… There's a crazy guy dressed in Kabuki clothes and a wig upstairs in my kitchen. He's not dangerous, I don't think, but you have to get someone over here and take him away…My mama and grandpa and brother are sleeping…I heard him outside…Please, get someone over here as fast as possible I live at the Higurashi shrine and my name is Higurashi Kagome…"


	2. Chapter 2

**'Kay. Got in the mood to continue this. Updates will not be constant, but the storyline is set out and I will make an effort and not lose this one, like I lost all the others. Will not promise any pairing and I will not give in to the wrath of "omgawds updeite liek pleeeezzzzzeee". However, I do adore constructive criticism.**

**Any comments, I will gladly take into question. Questions, I will try to answer.**

**Standard Disclaimer on my Author's Porfile.  
**

* * *

"What are you doing?"

Kagome looked up, startled, and screamed. The phone was snatched from her hand and crushed between the white-haired man's fingers in a very violent way.

"Shut up you little we-" her eyes could only focused on the small phone he was holding in between his fingers.

Kagome held back another scream, and rethought her situation. Maybe; just maybe, he wasn't as harmless as she'd thought.

"With whom were you talking to?" he asked her again in a low, menacing growl, tossing the now destroyed phone aside and advancing on her, his large presence rather overwhelming.

He grabbed her wrist and made her stand up, his hand firm like iron. Trembling slightly, Kagome shrank back against the wall.

"Get…get…away." She whispered, very afraid, and looking down, as if in some sort of pain.

"You fucking little bitch." InuYasha was losing patience, "Answer the question!" he grabbed her face and forced her to look at him. He was losing his nerve and was going to seriously hurt her if she didn't speak up…

Suddenly, as if responding to the unspoken threat, Kagome felt something very hot flash through her stomach, and up to her heart, filling her lungs…

She clenched her eyes shut and screamed.

"GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME!!!!!"

Some sort of power filled her lungs, immersing her very skin with a radiating light. InuYasha's hand immediately left her face as he felt the first wave lash out against him. And, he could sense a second one coming…

"GO. AWAY!!!!!" the dark haired girl cried out again, this time, she let her voice go on, feeling the energy leaving her body.

He tripped, eyes open in shock and stumbled backwards in utter surprise.

Kagome closed her eyes, falling to her knees, overcome by this feeling of exhaustion.

"I'm sorry. I didn't want to hurt you." She heard the vague but heavy whisper and looked up.

He had reddish, raw marks that resembled burns tearing along his face. His previously brilliant snow-white hair had dark marks all over, as if he'd just survived a fire. She looked down again; out of breath and feeling something odd arise in her when she thought about his eyes again.

"Why won't you listen to me, Kagome?"

She felt something odd wrench away in her gut.

"I…I don't know… who… who you are…" She spluttered, finding it hard to breathe, an clenched her heart.

The man crossed his arms and frowned, stepping away.

"InuYasha. That's my name."

She took a sharp intake of breathe, feeling like her lungs were being crunched…he couldn't think properly. Where was her mother? The police? The men in white coats?

"W…why…why are you h-here?"

"I need your help, Kago-"

There was a long, whining sound that interrupted them both, and it was followed by a series of voices and sirens. The noise was upstairs, and it sounded like they had already rushed through the font door.

"THIS IS THE POLICE. IS EVERYTHING ALRIGHT?"

Kagome sighed in relief and dashed up the stairs, her entire being focused on getting away from the insane kabuki-fangirl. She could hear her mother and her brother yelling, and she could hear men's voices. There was a huge confusion upstairs, confusion Kagome gladly fell into her. Already, in the light, her breathing eased and she felt less lightheaded.

"We got a phone call from a certain Higurashi Kagome which led us here." A man said, and Kagome rushed towards him and her mother.

"Is everything alright?" her mother cried, enlacing her in her arms. "I didn't see you in bed and oh Kagome, Kagome!" the teenager closed her eyes and let her mother hold her. Her limbs fell limp with fatigue.

"What's going on?" Kagome heard so many different voices.

"Man, downstairs…" That's all they needed.

Amongst all the questions, Kagome found herself being pulled in all directions. There were questions about rape, stalkers and serial killers obsessed with young shrine maidens. Her mother was crying and the policemen were searching every corner of the house, moving on unto the grounds. A doctor was called in to examine her…

But as all of this utter confusion was occurring, and as Kagome was shakily answering the inspector's questions, her half-lidded gaze fluttered over everywhere.

This "InuYasha" person was absolutely nowhere to be seen.

* * *

"What on earth has happened?"

"Shut up you old hag. Fix it. It fucking hurts."

The older woman knelt down on a futon by the fire in the middle of the room and motioned him to sit next to her. "Very well." She said, completely unaffected by his tone. Those who knew him usually ended up getting completely used to him. It got to the point where his anger was quite often answered with disinterest.

There was a silence as she looked over his wounds, her face gradually showing more concern, until she could no longer mask worry that InuYasha rarely saw painted on the old miko's face.

"Take off your shirt and jacket." She ordered, her eyes seeing the red marks falling down under his chin and under his clothes.

"Excuse me?" he replied grumpily.

"Do it, InuYasha." The woman's steely and angry voice caught InuYasha completely off-guard. He quickly complied.

Once he removed his clothes, she scrutinized him even closer, her tired eyes focusing completely and her frown deepening slightly. She finally stood back and got up, musing on what these wounds were.

"These…these were not done by a demon, InuYasha."

"I fucking _know_ that. So don't you go saying it to just about everybody, got it?"

"No…No…" she kept going, ignoring him, "These marks, these burns were done by something so much more powerful…holy, undoubtedly…but not quite…I've only ever heard of this power from my mentor, once…" The old miko rambled off, leaving a perplexed InuYasha feeling curious. And InuYasha hated being curious.

"Can you fix it?"

She still ignored him, and went to her medicine chest. Opening it, she continued to mumble in a voice only Inuyasha's dog ears could perceive:

"A _kuro_ _miko_ would not have this effect on a demon, this is indeed light magic…"

"Look, hag. I don't care who did it. I know who did it. I just need you to make my face pretty again," he said in a sarcastic and slightly bitter manner as he pointed to his raw, swollen face. "Got it?"

The old miko gave him a nasty look, greatly displeased by his behaviour.

"You, InuYasha the Hanyou, are a nasty piece of work."

They stayed silent as Kaede took out a few balms and herbs and proceeded to heal him. He was such an ungrateful little brat; she fumed quietly. InuYasha was wise enough not to say a word, this time.

Silence reigned in Kaede's home, interrupted only after old miko Kaede did all she could and declared: "Mess up that pretty face of yours again, InuYasha and you're on your own."


	3. Chapter 3

Two years later. Bravo, me, bravo.

Enjoy.

**Standard Disclaimer on my Author's Porfile.**

**

* * *

**

She was sleeping fitfully, restlessly, rolling over continuously. It was worrying him- her lack of calm, the empty, dark look in her eyes, her amnesia- he had to come to terms with this: she did not remember him. So he sat, perched outside her window, hanging on to the tree branch, sleepless, black circles around his eyes, his face lashed with deep burn. He was nursing several wounds on his face, his arms, his neck, even his chest- he could barely believe it. She was not this powerful- she had not ever been this powerful.

What was wrong with her?

Silently, he looked up to the dark, starless city sky. Why was the well open again? Why did she forget him? It hadn't even been a year…

His heart clenched… _Kagome…_

He looked back through the window, blinking beautiful, gleaming gold eyes. She was snoring, immobile- and he sighed, a little smile and his ears twitched. She had calmed down.

Closing his eyes, his heart content, he fell asleep.

She tried for days to put him out of her mind, to no avail. Something about that night had been so bizarre. She hadn't recognized him, and she had no idea how he could possibly know her name…but…That power, that warmth in her chest as she'd repelled him…She wanted to feel it again.

She shook in her sleep that night, a mere week later, nightmares and dreams confusing her. Feelings she couldn't place, and anger.

When Kagome woke up, the small pink radio-clock on her bedside table showing it was past midnight. She felt someone watching her.

"_Kagome_…" she heard, a whisper urging her to her window, to open it and look out…

"You better be getting up, Kagome, or you're going to be late for school."

"Buwwah?" mumbled the dark haired teen as she looked up from her pillow. The sunlight was too bright, she noticed, lazily lifting her hand to shield her eyes. "School sucks."

"Get up, dear. You have 15 minutes to get ready." With that, her mother left the room, closing the door behind her.

"Ugh…dreams…" Kagome muttered, complaining about her restlessness from the night before, but her mother had left, and no one could hear her lament..._no one…_

She got dressed slothfully, moving her limbs lethargically and blinking slowly, ever step an act of courage.

"I hate mornings…" she grumbled incoherently, wearing her uniform and stepping out her room.

"Kagome! The bus is going to be at the stop in ten minutes! Hurry up!" called her mother from downstairs.

"Yes mama." She answered, heading to the bathroom to brush her teeth.

* * *

The bus had jolted to a stop and there was screaming everywhere. A kid, probably not older than his twelfth birthday, had tears streaming down his face, wailing in fear. There was a roar, a roar that clenched Kagome's heart, but the girl somehow didn't feel fear- the sensations enveloping her were familiar. Horribly, tantalizingly familiar.

There was another roar, and people tumbled over each other as the bus was literally rolled upside down. Kagome, her head swimming but her heart staying frighteningly calm, took off her backpack and tried to find a way out of the bus- why were these things always so crowded Monday mornings?

"Shit shit shit…" A young girl screamed somewhere nearby, eyes glued to the greasy, dirty window of the bus. There was a weird beast outside the bus, a sort of ogre crossed with a wolf crossed with a rat… _youkai_.

How did she know that?

Whatever it was, it was huge, and Kagome couldn't think amidst all the screaming. Everybody was on their asses, and crawling around on the kness, trying to hide in the upside down bus. Leaning on the bottom of a seat, she opened the bus window difficultly. She wasn't staying in this thing a moment longer.

Somehow, she felt the demon's eyes on her, and Kagome realized she was probably kibble in a short skirt to this thing.

"Aaaaiiiiiie!!!!!!!" She screeched as the demon came closer. She regretted screaming the moment she felt her lungs expel the sound. She wasn't afraid. She'd never been afraid before…

When had there been a before?

The rat dog monster thing didn't give her much time to philosophize- he stank, reeked, smelled like ass, etc… and he was looking at her with his odd, yellow eyes. His very odd, gleaming, evil yellow eyes. "I hate rats." Muttered Kagome under her breath.

With a bravery she did not know she possessed, she crawled out of the bus and ran from it, leaving her backpack behind. She felt something familiar in the air- she could sense it prickling the little hairs on her arms, in fact, she could see it.

"Shikon shard?" she said against her own will, and again it was a word she did not recognize.

The monster lunged at her, and Kagome screamed again, but this time, the cry was full of power, full of strength- it was like when that strange man had attacked her- it was overwhelming- it was liberating.

A white, heavenly aura that wasn't quite a feeling and not quite a light enveloped her skin, and she squinted, the beast before her freezing in fear and screeching, howling shrilly in pain. She yelled again, this time she was able to focus this at the beast, and the youkai fell apart in shrivels.

…There was a strange, deadly calm, and for the first time since the bus had first been attacked, Kagome felt her heart beat a thousand miles a minute, anxiety pumping in her veins.

The people on the bus were filing out, weakened and shaken and distraught, trying to get away from the bloody, gory remains of the beast as quickly as possible. The creature had been huge, taller than the bus itself. Kagome leaned her forehead in her palm, breathing deeply.

This was so weird.

"Kagome."

She whirled around, and saw the kabuki actor again.

"You!" She hissed, advancing towards him, "What is going on? Why can I do this?" she huffed, crossing her arms, looking up at his face angrily, shaken. "You have something to do with this, I know it!" there eyes were locked in angry stares.

The tall man's gold eyes thinned, his dog ears flicking. For a moment, he looked distant and sad, but it was immediately replaced with annoyance. "Kagome, there are more important things happening here," he finally said. "Look at the youkai. He's putting himself back together already. We have to take the shard before he attacks anybody else."

Kagome turned around, confused. And then, she saw, the feeling, the sight. _The Shikon Shard._

"It's there, in his mouth, in his teeth." She mumbled to herself. She didn't think the weird kabuki actor could have heard her until he'd leaped clear over her, landing by the creatures skull, and with his long clawlike fingers, retrieved a shimmering piece of crystal. He stood up, his long white hair flowing gently behind him. The decapitated demon's body lay on the asphalt, immobile.

"Good girl." He nodded at her, placing the shard in his red overcoat.

Kagome looked furious.

"Okay, what is going on here?"

He looked away.

"Inu…Iya…" She swore under her breath, "Whatever your name is. What is this? Who are you?"

The silver haired man looked away, the freshly healed wounds over his body tingling slightly, his eyes dark.

And then he was gone, and Kagome's thoughts were drowned by the police sirens and approaching ambulances.


End file.
